Wide touchpad on a portable computer

ABSTRACT

In one exemplary embodiment, a portable computer having a display assembly coupled to a base assembly to alternate between a closed position and an open position. Palm rest areas are formed by a touchpad disposed on the surface of the base assembly. In an alternative embodiment, a touchpad disposed on the base assembly has a width that extends substantially into the palm rests areas of the base assembly.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/351,096, filed on Jan. 16, 2012 and published on May 10, 2012 as U.S.Patent Publication No. 2012/0113009, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/731,118, filed on Mar. 30, 2007 andissued on Jan. 17, 2012 as U.S. Pat. No. 8,098,233, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/927,575, filed onAug. 25, 2004, and issued on Nov. 16, 2010 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,834,855,the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates generally to portable computers, and in oneembodiment, a portable computer having a wide touchpad.

BACKGROUND

Advances in technology have enabled the size of personal computers todecrease. As a result, the use of portable computers, such as notebookcomputers, laptop computers, and notepad computers, is rapidlyincreasing. The portability of notebook computers and notepad computersenables a user to keep his or her computer readily accessible such thatcomputing resources are effectively always at hand. FIG. 1 illustrates atypical notebook computer with two folding halves, with a displayassembly in one half and a base assembly with input devices in the otherhalf. Input devices include, among other things, a keyboard forinputting data and a touchpad for navigating a cursor control. Palm restareas are areas positioned on the upper surface of the base assemblybelow the keyboard. They allow a user to rest the base or palm of his orher hands comfortably during typing activity. The vast majority ofconventional touchpads that are integrated into portable computers are,in one way or another, isolated from unwanted contact with the user'shands (e.g., during a typing activity). This is usually done bycentering the touchpad below the keyboard, and minimizing the size ofthe touchpad, for example, by not extending the touchpad to the palmrest areas to be formed on either side of the touchpad. The touchpad isalso recessed beneath the plane of the palm rest, so that palms, themost common cause of unwanted activation of the touchpad, do not come incontact with the touchpad.

One trend in portable computers has been to make them as desktopcomputer replacements, which requires them to be larger, while stillmaintaining their portability features. The display assembly inparticular, that includes a display screen, has become larger, to becomecomparable to the sizes of desktop computer monitors. This has causedthe housing of the base assembly to increase proportionally. Large baseassembly housings can easily accommodate full-size keyboards, but thesize of the touchpads must still be limited because of the high risk ofunwanted activation, as discussed above, as well as providing thenecessary space for palm rests.

Moreover, in order for larger portable computers to be practical forportability purposes, they must still be relatively thin and light. Oneconventional method to reduce the overall thickness of portablecomputers is to mount the touchpad flush with the top surface of thebase assembly housing (e.g., the palm rest areas). However, thisincreases the likelihood of accidental brushing by a user's palms,especially during typing.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of a portable computer having one or more input devicesincluding a keyboard and an enlarged or wide touchpad are describedherein. A portable computer includes a display assembly and a baseassembly coupled by hinge assembly that allows display assembly tochange (i.e., rotate) between an open position and a closed position.The display assembly includes a display screen which displays images,data, and a moveable cursor. The wide touchpad and keyboard disposed onthe base assembly allow a user to interact with the display screen(e.g., enter data). In one embodiment, the wide touchpad may be a cursorcontrol device having the capabilities of conventional computer mousedevices, such as the ability to point, drag, tap, and double tap objectson a graphical user interface, as well as more general purposes such asscrolling, panning, zooming, and rotating images on display screen. Thewide touchpad extends into the areas on the surface of the base assemblythat are normally reserved for palm rest areas (e.g., flat areas on thesurface of the base assembly that support a user's palms and/or wristswhile typing).

In one embodiment, the wide touchpad filters each contact or contactpatch sensed to either accept the contact as an intentional inputcommand (e.g., cursor control command), or reject the contact asunintentional (e.g., when operating as a palm rest). The wide touchpadcan filter multiple contact patches in order to accept a particularcontact patch in one area of the touchpad while rejecting a secondcontact patch elsewhere on the wide touchpad. In one embodiment, asensor is disposed between the keyboard and touchpad. The sensor definesa planar sensing region extending upwards from the top surface of thebase assembly. The sensor detects a user's hand that may be resting onthe base assembly with a palm portion making contact with a portion ofthe wide touchpad and the fingers extending toward keyboard. When thisdetection is made, any contact made with a corresponding portion of thetouchpad is rejected, having been interpreted as unintentional contactby the user. Alternatively, detection of fingers extending toward thekeyboard may be evaluated as one of many factors used to decide whetherand what significance to accord to contact with the touchpad. Forexample, other factors may include the profile of the contact with thetouchpad, the level of keyboard activity at the time of contact, etc. Inthis way, the touchpad may effectively serve as a palm rest (e.g., theuser may intentionally rest one or more palm or other part of a hand oraim on a portion of the touchpad, which is recognized as anunintentional input) in addition to a functional touchpad when an inputis interpreted as being an intentional contact by the user.

There are numerous other embodiments which are described herein, andthese embodiments generally relate to portable computers having a widetouchpad and the accepting or rejecting of contact patches on thetouchpad based on, in one example, hand location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and notlimitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional portable computer.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a portable computer having a widetouchpad.

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of the portable computer of FIG. 2 in theopen position with a touchpad that extends into the palm rest areas.

FIG. 4 illustrates one example of a hand position during user activitywith a portable computer.

FIG. 5 illustrates another example of a hand position during useractivity with a portable computer.

FIG. 6 illustrates another example of a hand position during useractivity with a portable computer.

FIG. 7 illustrates a side view of a hand in a typing position with theportable computer of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 illustrates a cross-sectional view of FIG. 7 taken along line A-Athrough the base assembly, sensor, and hand with showing one embodimentof a sensor.

FIG. 9 illustrates a cross-sectional view of FIG. 7 taken along line A-Athrough the base assembly, sensor, and hand with showing anotherembodiment of a sensor.

FIG. 10 illustrates a logic diagram of one embodiment of a portablecomputer system that supports a wide touchpad and/or hand sensor.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of one embodiment of an operation forrejecting or accepting a contact patch.

FIG. 12 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a hand detecting sensorthat may be disposed on a portable computer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forthsuch as examples of specific, components, circuits, processes, etc. inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. Itwill be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that these specificdetails need not be employed to practice the present invention. In otherinstances, well known components or methods have not been described indetail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

The term “coupled” as used herein means connected directly to orindirectly connected through one or more intervening components,structures or elements. The terms “above,” “below,” and “between” asused herein refer to a relative position of one component or elementwith respect to other components or elements. As such, one componentdisposed above or below another component may be directly in contactwith the other component or may have one or more intervening component.Moreover, one component disposed between other components may bedirectly in contact with the other components or may have one or moreintervening components.

Various embodiments of a portable computer (also referred to as notebookcomputer or laptop computer) having enlarged touchpads are described.The touchpad provides input and conventional cursor control capabilitiessuch as pointing, dragging, tapping, scrolling, panning, rotating, andzooming. In one embodiment of the present invention, the touchpad servesas palm rests for a user's hands during a typing activity. In anotherembodiment of the present invention, the touchpad is enlarged so as toexpand along a substantial width of the portable computer base assembly,extending into the palm rest areas. The palm rest areas include thoseareas on the front, top portion of the base assembly, and the keyboardis located behind the palm rest areas on the base assembly. Thus, innormal use by a user, the palm rest areas are closer to the user thanthe keyboard, which is normally adjacent to the hinge which couples thebase assembly to the display assembly. The palm rest areas typicallyinclude a left palm rest area and a right palm rest area with a centralportion separating these left and right palm rest areas. In prior artportable computers, this central portion typically includes a touchpador other cursor control device. Advantages of a large touchpad for aportable computer include increased area for dynamic input ranges,two-handed control of the touchpad, and advanced input based on morethan one finger on the touchpad.

In one embodiment, the touchpad possesses the ability to rejectaccidental contact when a user does not intend to activate the touchpad(e.g., the touchpad is able to distinguish when a user is contacting thetouchpad for intended use or is merely resting his or her palms on aparticular portion of the touchpad during a typing activity). In oneparticular embodiment, a sensor is disposed near the touchpad andkeyboard of the portable computer to sense hand location of a user, andsubsequently determine whether the touchpad contact is intentional oraccidental. The touchpad responds properly by either recognizing theaction on the touchpad or rejecting the action. As a result, the user isable to work efficiently, allowing for typing and cursor controloperations to occur seamlessly. In one embodiment, the enlargedtouchpad/palm rest may be suitable for use with portable computershaving base and display assemblies (e.g., display frame, base assemblyhousing) made entirely or partially of metallic materials, inparticular, display and base housings made of metals such as steel,aluminum, titanium, or combinations thereof.

FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of a portablecomputer 200 that includes a display assembly 210 and a base assembly220. Display assembly 210 is coupled to base assembly 220 with a hingeassembly 216 that allows display assembly 210 to change (i.e., rotate)between an open position (as illustrated in FIG. 2) and a closedposition (not shown). Display assembly includes a display screen 212 andassociated video circuitry (not shown). In one embodiment, displayscreen 212 may be a liquid crystal display unit. In an alternativeembodiment, display screen 212 may be a video monitor or any well knowdisplay device. Display screen is centered and framed on displayassembly 210 by bezel 214. In the open position, display screen 212 isexposed on display assembly 210. Input devices that include keyboard222, touchpad 224, and actuation button(s) 226 (e.g., “mouse buttons”)are disposed on a top surface 232 of base assembly 220. Speakers 260,262 may also be disposed on top surface 232 of base assembly 220.

In one embodiment, touchpad 224 may be an input device having thecapabilities of conventional computer mouse devices, such as the abilityto point, drag, tap, and double tap objects on a graphical userinterface, as well as more general purposes such as scrolling, panning,zooming, and rotating images on display screen 212. Touchpad 224, alongwith keyboard 222 and actuation button 226, allows a user to communicatewith portable computer 200 (e.g., interact with display screen 212 orenter data). In one embodiment, a touchpad is defined herein as any twodimensional surface sensor that can detect one or more objects on thetouchpad surface (the touchpad input), and output information regardingthe location, width, presence, and number of said objects, (the touchpadoutputs), in a manner that can be interpreted by the computer system togenerate cursor movement, or otherwise interpret a user's eitherintentional or unintentional input. In one embodiment, touchpad 224 maybe a touchpad that utilizes capacitive sensing. The surface of thetouchpad may include a grid of conductive metal wires covered by aninsulator. When two electrically conductive objects come near each otherwithout touching, their electric fields interact to form capacitance.Also, when another conductive material, such as a human finger, comes incontact with the touchpad surface, a capacitance forms.

The dimensions of touchpad 224, particularly the width (i.e., thedistance parallel the row of keys on keyboard 222), are larger thanconventional touchpads. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2,touchpad 224 extends into the areas on the surface 232 of base assembly220 that are normally reserved for palm rest areas (e.g., areas 252,254, designated by circled hash marks), but still allows a user to resthis or her palms on the surface of touchpad 224. Alternatively, inaddition to possessing conventional touchpad functionalities, all orparticular portions of touchpad 224 may serve as palm rests for a user'shands. It should be noted that palm rest areas 252, 254 as describedherein are not necessarily reserved only for a user's palms during atyping activity as other body parts may be placed on palm rest areas252, 254. For example, a user's elbow or forearm may rest on anynon-keyboard portion of base assembly 220 during use (e.g., leaning onthe palm rest portion 254 with the left elbow or forearm while typingwith the right hand).

As described in greater detail below, enlarged touchpad 224 is able toreject unintentional contact while accepting intentional contact relatedto input device functionality (e.g., cursor control commands). In oneembodiment, a sensor 240 is disposed between keyboard 222 and touchpad224. Sensor 240 defines a planar sensing region extending upwards fromtop surface 232. In one particular embodiment, sensor 240 detects auser's hand that may be resting on base assembly 220 with a palm portionmaking contact with a portion of touchpad 224 and the fingers extendingtoward keyboard 222. When this detection is made, any contact made witha corresponding portion of the touchpad is rejected, having beeninterpreted as unintentional contact by the user. Alternatively,detection of fingers extending toward keyboard 222 may be evaluated asone of many factors used to decide whether and what significance toaccord to contact with touchpad 224. For example, other factors mayinclude the profile of the contact with touchpad 224, the level ofkeyboard 222 activity at the time of contact, etc. In this way, touchpad224 may effectively serve as a palm rest (e.g., the user mayintentionally rest one or more palm or other part of a hand or arm on aportion of the touchpad and the system recognizes this and interpretsthe input as unintentional) in addition to a functional touchpad when aninput is interpreted as being an intentional contact by the user. FIG. 3illustrates a top view of portable computer 200 in the open positionwith touchpad 224 that extends into the palm rest areas on top surface232. In one embodiment, touchpad 224, having particularly widedimension, is divided into three regions, a left region 242, a centerregion 244, and a right region 246. Sensor 240, which in one embodimentis a sensor strip having a width substantially similar to a width oftouchpad 224, is disposed between keyboard 222 and touchpad 224. Thethree regions of touchpad 224 may be activated or deactivatedselectively, based on a particular touch region or “contact patch”sensed by touchpad 224 in association with the particular region ofsensor 240 that detects a hand portion or fingers extending towards thekeys of keyboard 222. In an alternative embodiment, only the specificcontact patch in a region (and not the entire region) may be accepted orrejected selectively. It will be recognized that other configurations ofsensor 240 are possible, for example, sensor 240 may be multiplesensors, or may not be coextensive with touchpad 224.

FIGS. 4-6 illustrate three of many possible scenarios (i.e., handpositions) of user activity with portable computer 200 and therecognition by the three regions of touchpad 224 that may either acceptor reject contact. FIG. 4 illustrates a typical typing position by auser in which the fingers of left hand 280 and right hand 282 extendover keyboard 222 and both palms rest on regions of touchpad 224. Inparticular, left hand 280 rests entirely on left region 242, and righthand 282 rests on right region 246. Sensor 240 detects the extension ofthe fingers from left hand 280 and associates the fingers with thecontact made on left region 242. Similarly, sensor 240 associates thefingers from right hand 282 with the contact made on right region 246.Accordingly, the contact patches on left region 242 and right region 246are not recognized as any form of input or touchpad operation. Theuser's hands may rest comfortably on these regions of touchpad 224, andin doing so, left region 242 and right region 246 serve as palm rests.In contrast, center region 244 of touchpad 224 may be active and beresponsive to touchpad sensing.

FIG. 5 illustrates another scenario in which the fingers of left hand280 extend over the keys of keyboard 222 while a finger from right hand282 makes contact with touchpad 224. In this scenario, the contact madeby right hand 282 is intentional and meant to activate a touchpad action(e.g., pointing, dragging, tapping). Sensor 240 detects the extension ofthe fingers from left hand 280 and associates the fingers with thecontact made on left region 242. For right hand 282, the fingers do notextend over keyboard 222 and no detection is made by sensor 240.Accordingly, the contact patch on left region 242 is not recognized asany form of touchpad operation. However, the contact patch on rightregion 246 of touchpad 224 is recognized as a valid touchpad activity,and responds with the appropriate touchpad command (e.g., dragging,pointing). The user's left hand 280 may rest comfortably on left region242 of touchpad 224 and engage in typing activity, while the fingersfrom right hand 282 engage in touchpad activity. In one embodiment,center region 244 of touchpad 224 may also be active and be responsiveto touchpad sensing.

FIG. 6 illustrates a third scenario in which both left hand 280 andright hand 282 do not extend over keyboard 222. This hand position mayoccur when the user engages only in touchpad activity. In this scenario,portions of left hand 280 rests on left region 242 while a finger fromright hand 282 engages in touchpad activity, and no portions from eitherhand extend over keyboard 222. The contact patch made by the finger ofright hand 282 is intentional and meant to activate a touchpadaction/input (e.g., pointing, dragging, tapping). The contact patchesmade by left hand 280 is unintentional. Although no detection is made bysensor 240, touchpad 224 recognizes various characteristics of thecontact patches made by the user's hands. In this case, the multiplecontact patches recognized in left region 242, taking into considerationthe size of the patches and proximity, are interpreted by touchpad 224as unintentional. Accordingly, the activity in left region 242 isdisregarded. Alternatively, all of left region 242 may be inactivated orthe inputs are ignored or filtered. However, the single contact patch onright region 246 of touchpad 224 is recognized as a valid touchpadactivity, and responds with the appropriate touchpad command (e.g.,dragging, pointing). In one embodiment, center region 244 of touchpad224 may also be active and be responsive to touchpad sensing.

In an alternative embodiment, touchpad 224 is capable of multiple ortwo-handed input. With reference again to FIG. 6, touchpad 224 mayaccept the contact patch from the finger of right hand 282 for cursorcontrol operation. The contact patches from left hand 280 may also beaccepted when associated with touchpad input device functionality. Forexample, two fingers from left hand 280 may be used to controlscrolling, panning, rotation, and zooming of objects or data on thedisplay screen (e.g., display screen 212).

FIGS. 4-6 illustrate touchpad 224 as being divided into three distinctsensing regions. However, it may be appreciated that any number ofsensing regions may be divided over touchpad 224, and not necessarily inthe relative dimensions illustrated. For example, sensor 240 can detectthe extension and retraction of one finger at a time to that a singlefinger can be moved back and forth between touchpad 224 and keyboard222, being active in both places, without moving the entire hand. Itwill also be recognized that touchpad 224 can be activated/deactivatedin portions. It can also be activated/deactivated one input (i.e.,contact patch) at a time, by disregarding any particular input that isdetermined to be related to unintended contact rather than intentionalinterface activity. That is, touchpad 224 is “deactivated” if itdisregards a particular input, even if the next input may be notdisregarded.

FIGS. 7-9 illustrate in greater detail, in one embodiment, the sensingof a user's fingers over the keys of keyboard 222. In the side view ofFIG. 7, left hand 280 is illustrated in a typing position with respectto portable computer 200 in the open position (i.e., display assembly210 rotated open relative to base assembly 220). Palm 281 rests ontouchpad 224, and fingers 283 extend over sensor 240 and keyboard 222.As described above, the palm rest for palm 281 includes touchpad 224because of the extra-wide or elongated dimensions of touchpad 224. FIG.8 illustrates a cross-sectional view of FIG. 7 taken along line A-Athrough base assembly 220, sensor 240, and left hand 280. In oneembodiment, sensor 240 includes a first imaging sensor 275 and a secondimaging sensor 276. The imaging sensors may be infrared (IR) sensorsthat look “upward” (designated by the dash lines) and “see” thecross-sectional view of A-A. First and second imaging sensors 275, 276examine a planar region in space extending upwards from the general lineof sensor 240. For example, the fingers 283 of left hand 280 that breaksthe planar region examined by first sensor 275. The sensing of fingers283 may be associated with the contact patch made by palm 281 ontouchpad 224 (e.g., on left region 242 as illustrated in FIG. 4), and asa result, either the entire left region 242 would not be active for anytype of touchpad operation or the particular contact patch made by thepalm 281 would be rejected, allowing for palm 281 to rest on touchpad224. Because second sensor 276 does not detect any breaks along itsportion of the planar region, portions of touchpad 224 associated withsecond sensor 276 are responsive to touchpad commands or operations(e.g., middle region 244 and right region 246).

FIG. 9 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a sensor mechanism forsensor 240. Multiple optical emitter-detector pairs (e.g., pairs 277,278) are disposed along the sensor strip area to detect the presence orabsence of a user's hand in the sensed plane (i.e., a planar region inspace extending upwards from the general line of sensor 240). Theresults produced by the emitter-detectors pairs are similar to thatproduced by the IR sensors (e.g., first and second sensors 275, 276)described above with respect to FIG. 8. The fingers 283 of left hand 280breaks the planar region examined by the emitter-detector pairs 277, 278near one side of sensor 240. The sensing of fingers 283 may beassociated with the contact patch made by palm 281 on touchpad 224(e.g., on left region 242 as illustrated in FIG. 4), and as a result,either the entire left region 242 would not be active for any type oftouchpad operation or the particular contact patch made by the palm 281would be rejected, allowing for palm 281 to rest on touchpad 224. Theemitter-detector pairs 277, 278 do not detect any breaks along theplanar region near the other end of fingers 283. Accordingly, portionsof touchpad 224 associated with the undetected sensor regions would beresponsive to touchpad commands or operations (e.g., middle region 244and right region 246).

The infrared sensors of first sensor 275 and second sensor 276, as wellas optical emitter-detector pairs 277, 278 are just two of many possiblesensing mechanism that may be used for detecting a hand location. Inalternative embodiments, sensor 240 may be a capacitive sensor orvisible light/shadow sensor. It may be appreciated that sensor 240 doesnot necessarily have to be utilized with an enlarged or wide touchpad,as illustrated, for detecting a hand location. The IR sensors andoptical emitter-detector sensors described herein may be associated withtouchpad of any dimension (e.g., a touchpad having dimensions comparableto the dimensions of center region 244).

Referring again to FIG. 3, inside base assembly 220, there may be allthe essential and well known electronic circuitry for the operation ofportable computer 200, such as a central processing unit (CPU), memory,hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, flash memory drive, input/outputcircuitry, and power supply. Such electronic circuitry for a portablecomputer is well known in the art; for example, a portable computer isthe Macintosh PowerBook from Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

Keyboard 222 and touchpad 224 occupy almost all of top surface 232 ofbase assembly 220. In one embodiment, display assembly 210 has a width211 and length 213 that is substantially similar to a width 217 andlength 219 of base assembly 220 so that when display assembly 210 isclosed over base assembly 220, the edges of the two assemblies are flushwith each other. In one particular embodiment, portable computer 200 mayhave a display screen size of about 12 inches (about 305 millimeters(mm), the diagonal distance from one corner to the opposite corner ofthe display screen). Display assembly width 211 and base assembly width217 may be about 277 mm and display assembly length 213 and baseassembly length 219 may be about 219 mm. Keyboard 222 may besubstantially centered along a width of base assembly 220, having awidth 227 of about 274 mm and a length 228 of about 108 mm.

In one embodiment, keyboard 222 may be a full-size keyboard (i.e., akeyboard layout having dimensions similar to those of conventionaldesktop computer keyboards) having a conventional “QWERTY” layout, whichalso includes a large, elongated space bar key in the bottom row of thekeyboard. The specific type of the keyboard (e.g., a “QWERTY” keyboard)that is used is not critical to the present invention.

Touchpad 224 has an elongated width that is substantially similar to awidth of keyboard 222. Further, the width of the touchpad may besubstantially similar to the width of base assembly 220. For example,the touchpad in certain embodiments may have a width which is about 70to about 80% of the width of the base assembly. More generally, in otherembodiments, the touchpad may have a width which is about 50% to about95% of the width of the base assembly. Further, a substantial portion(e.g., more than 50% and typically more than 60%) of the palm rest areamay include one or more touchpads. The width 223 of touchpad extendsalong width 227 of keyboard 222 so as to provide a palm rest area duringtyping activity. In one embodiment, touchpad 224 has a width 223 ofabout 274 mm and a length 225 of about 45 mm. While touchpad 224 isshown as being one contiguous touchpad, in alternative embodiments,several separate touchpads may be disposed in the left, right, andcentral palm rest areas, and these several separate touchpads may occupya substantial portion (e.g., about 60% to about 70%) of the palm restareas.

In an alternative embodiment, portable computer 200 may have a displayscreen size of about 17 inches (about 432 mm, the diagonal distance fromone corner to the opposite corner of the display screen). Displayassembly width 211 and base assembly width 217 may be about 392 mm anddisplay assembly length 213 and base assembly length 219 may be about259 ram Keyboard 222 may be a full-sized keyboard that is substantiallycentered along a width of base assembly 220. Keyboard 222 may have awidth 227 of about 274 mm and a length 228 of about 108 mm. Touchpad 224disposed on base assembly 220 for a 17-inch display screen may have anelongated width that is substantially similar to or exceeds a width ofkeyboard 222. The width of a base assembly for a 17-inch display screenmay be greater compared to that of a base assembly for a 12-inch displayscreen. Although the dimensions of keyboard 222 may not be substantiallydifferent for the two display semen sizes, greater surface area would beprovided in the base assembly for the 17-inch display screen.Accordingly, the palm rest areas formed by touchpad 224 may be largerfor the 17-inch display screen base assembly. In one embodiment,touchpad 224 has a width 223 between about 274 mm to about 330 mm and alength 225 between about 45 mm to about 55 mm.

The dimensions for keyboard 222, and in particular, for touchpad 224 areexamples only and it should be noted that a larger range of dimensionsmay be utilized, depending, for example, on the size of display screen212 and the surface area available on the base assembly. In oneembodiment, touchpad 224 may have a width 223 between about 100 mm toabout 400 mm and a length 225 between about 45 mm to about 200 mm.

FIG. 10 illustrates a logic diagram of one embodiment of a portablecomputer system 300 (e.g., for portable computer 200) that supports awide touchpad and/or hand sensor. Note that while FIG. 10 illustratesvarious components of a computer system, it is not intended to representany particular architecture or manner of interconnecting the componentsas such details are not germane to the present invention. In oneembodiment, the corresponding hardware components for the componentsdescribed may be disposed on motherboard 301 as shown. The computersystem of FIG. 10 may, for example, be an Apple Macintosh portablecomputer.

The portable computer system 300 includes a main logic board ormotherboard 301 with at least one central processing unit (CPU) orprocessor 302, and one or more volatile memory units 304 such as randomaccess memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM), coupled to motherboard301, as well as a graphics processor 308. More than one processor 302may be part of system 300 (e.g., a dual processor system, or a dual coreprocessor system). Processor 302 may be, for example, a G4 or G5microprocessor from Motorola, Inc., or IBM, and is coupled to cachememory 306.

A memory controller 303 allows for the interface of memory unit 304 andgraphics processor 308 with CPU 302. Graphics processor 308 is alsocoupled to a display device (e.g., display screen 212), which may be ahigh resolution device. Memory controller 303 also defines the speed atwhich data can flow between CPU 302, memory unit 304, and graphicsprocessor 308 through bus 305. Bus 305 may also be referred to as frontside bus (FSB), processor bus, memory bus or system bus. An input/out(I/O) controller 320 manages the interface of other components coupledto motherboard 301 such as storage device 324 (non-volatile), and local110 322. Types of 110 devices include mice, modems, network interfaces,printers, scanners, video cameras, and other devices that are well knownin the art.

In one embodiment, aspects of the recognition of user's hand location bysensor 240, and either accepting or rejecting a contact patch ontouchpad 224 may be embodied, at least in part, in software. That is,the techniques may be carried out in a computer system or other dataprocessing system in response to its processor, such as amicroprocessor, executing sequences of instructions contained in amemory, such as memory 304 (which may include ROM, RAM, cache 306, or aremote storage device). In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry maybe used in combination with software instructions to implement thepresent invention. Thus, the techniques are not limited to any specificcombination of hardware circuitry and software or to any particularsource for the instructions executed by the data processing system. Inaddition, throughout this description, various functions and operationsare described as being performed by or caused by software code tosimplify description. However, those skilled in the art will recognizewhat is meant by such expressions is that the functions result fromexecution of the code by a processor, such as the CPU 302.

A machine readable medium can be used to store software and data whichwhen executed by a data processing system causes the system to performvarious methods of the present invention. This executable software anddata may be stored in various places including for example memory 304,cache 306, or storage device 324, as illustrated in FIG. 7. Portions ofthis software and/or data may be stored in any one of these storagedevices.

Thus, a machine readable medium includes any mechanism that provides(i.e., stores and/or transmits) information in a form accessible by amachine (e.g., a computer, network device, personal digital assistant,manufacturing tool, any device with a set of one or more processors,etc.). For example, a machine readable medium includesrecordable/non-recordable media (e.g., read only memory (ROM); randomaccess memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media;flash memory devices; etc.), as well as electrical, optical, acousticalor other forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infraredsignals, digital signals, etc.), etc.

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, a sensor isdisposed on the base assembly of a portable computer to detect a handlocation. If the hand location extends from a contact patch on thetouchpad to the keyboard, that particular contact patch may berecognized by the computer system as an unintentional or accidentalcontact, and therefore not registered as a touchpad command. FIG. 11illustrates a flowchart of one embodiment of an operation 400 forrejecting or accepting a contact patch on a touchpad in association witha hand location. The operation may be performed for each contact patchdetected on the touchpad. In one embodiment, a capacitive touchpad(e.g., touchpad 224) disposed on a top surface (e.g., surface 232) of abase assembly (e.g., 220) senses a contact patch on the touchpad. Anycontact sensed by the touchpad may undergo a post processor algorithm inorder interpret the contact properly. In one embodiment, the postprocessor is defined herein to be the software or firmware that convertsthe information coming from the touchpad sensor into a format that canbe interpreted by the portable computer (e.g., processor 302). The postprocessor has as inputs, the touchpad outputs, which may include anytype of physical contact made with the touchpad. The post processor thenuses the “post processor algorithm” to analyze each set of inputs(location, width, number of contacts, presence of contact, and handlocation) to determine whether the contact patch should be accepted orrejected.

The stalling point 402 of operation 400 may be when the portablecomputer is in a power “ON” state, with the display screen visible(e.g., displaying an image or data) and the various input devices (e.g.,keyboard 222, sensor 240, and touchpad 224) in active and responsivestates. When a contact patch is sensed on the touchpad, a location,trajectory, and size of the contact patch are determined, block 404.Trajectory refers to the path of the contact patch (e.g., movement of afinger on the touchpad during a dragging operation). The contact patchmay be for example, the palm region of hand during a typing activity(e.g., palm 281 of FIG. 7) or during a pointing activity (e.g., righthand 282 of FIG. 5). Next, a hand location is made using a sensor (e.g.,sensor 240) disposed on the base assembly of the portable computer,block 406. In one embodiment, the sensor may include one or more IRsensors (e.g., sensors 275, 276) disposed along a sensor strip betweenthe keyboard and the touchpad. In an alternative embodiment, the sensorsmay be pairs of optical emitter-detectors (e.g., pairs 277, 278)disposed along a sensor strip between the keyboard and the touchpad.

Once a hand location is determined, a probability of intentional contactis estimated using the measured quantities of the contact patchlocation, trajectory, size of the contact patch, in addition to the handlocation detected by the sensor, block 406. As discussed above, thetouchpad may be divided into multiple sensing regions, for example, aleft sensor region 242, center sensor region 244, and right sensorregion 246 or there may be separate touchpads, one for each of theseregions which are separated by small areas which are not touchpads. Forexample, the size of a contact patch made by palm 281 resting on leftsensor region 242 would be larger compared to a contact patch made by afinger moving during a pointing or dragging cursor operation (e.g.,finger of right hand 282 over right sensor region 246 illustrated inFIG. 5). In one embodiment, a contact patch having a relatively smallsize and a trajectory with a certain distance along the surface of thetouchpad, coupled with no detection by the sensor would be initiallyestimated with a high probability of intentional contact. This maycorrespond to, for example, a pointing or dragging cursor operation. Incontrast, a contact patch of a large size, and with no or minimaltrajectory, coupled with detection by the sensor, would be initiallyestimated with a very low probability of intentional contact. This maycorrespond to a palm resting on the touchpad surface.

The estimated probabilities are repeatedly calculated to establish anarrow or strict accept/reject criteria for the contact patch, block410, and the contact patch is also measured repeatedly over a period oftime, block 412. These calculations are done repeatedly to provide thesystem with the most recent of sampling data. In one particularembodiment, the measurements may be repeated in the range of about 120Hz to about 3 Hz. Lastly, the contact patch is accepted or rejectedbased on the criteria established from the measured contact patch/sensorcalculations, block, 414. Once an accept/reject decision has been made,the operation ends, block 416.

The accept/reject operation 400 may further be described with respect tothe scenarios in FIGS. 4-5. FIG. 4 illustrates a conventional typingposition with the palms of both hands resting on touchpad 224 andfingers extending over keyboard 222. The contact patches made on leftsensor region 242 and right sensor region 246 would be rejected. Therelatively large sizes of the contact patches made by the palms inconnection with the detection of hand location would be interpreted asunintentional or accidental contact. In this position, touchpad 224operates only as a palm rest. FIG. 5 illustrates a dual mode position inwhich the left hand 280 is in a typing position and right hand 282 is ina touchpad position. The contact patch from left hand 280 (e.g., thepalm) would be rejected because the location of left hand 280 would bedetected by sensor 240. Accordingly, either the entire left sensorregion 242, which is associated with the location of left hand 280 andthe contact patch, or the particular contact patch made by left hand 280on left sensor region 242 would be rendered inactive for touchpadcommands, and operate only as a palm rest. The contact patch made by thefinger of right hand 282 would be accepted as an intentional contact.The sensor would not detect any hand presence associated with rightsensor region 246. As described above, the calculations performed byoperation 400 include measuring the size and trajectory of the contactpatch made by right hand 282. A comparison with the contact patch fromleft hand 280 may also be performed to establish the accept/rejectcriteria.

FIG. 12 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a hand detecting sensorthat may be disposed on a portable computer. Portable computer 500 isillustrated in an open position with display assembly 510 rotated openwith respect to base assembly 520. Base assembly 520 includes a widetouchpad 524 disposed below keyboard 522. An imaging sensor 545 isdisposed on bezel 514 that frames display screen 512. Imaging sensor 545detects an area of base assembly 520 that includes keyboard 222 andtouchpad 524. When activated, imaging sensor 545 may detect a particularhand location and establish accept/reject criteria as described above(e.g., operation 400). In an alternative embodiment, imaging sensor 545may also provide video-conferencing functionality when not operating asan imaging sensor.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however,be evident that various modifications and changes may be made theretowithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are,accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictivesense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A portable computer, comprising: a displayassembly coupled to a base assembly; a touchpad disposed on the baseassembly, wherein the touchpad includes a plurality of predefinedregions, and the touchpad is configured to detect an object in contactwith a surface at any position on the touchpad within a first predefinedregion of the plurality of predefined regions; and a processor coupledto the touchpad, wherein the processor is configured to, in response tothe processor determining that the contact of the object with thesurface is unintentional, deactivate the first predefined regionindependently of a second predefined region of the plurality ofpredefined regions.
 2. The portable computer of claim 1, whereindetermining that the contact is unintentional comprises estimating aprobability that the object detected on the surface of the touchpad isan intentional or unintentional contact based upon determining one ormore characteristics of one or more contact patches, including thecontact, on the touchpad.
 3. The portable computer of claim 2, whereinthe one or more characteristics include contact patch location,trajectory, and size.
 4. The portable computer of claim 2, whereinestimating the probability that the object detected on the surface ofthe touchpad is an intentional or unintentional contact is further basedupon determining a location of a hand using a hand location sensorincluded in the portable computer.
 5. The portable computer of claim 1,further comprising: a keyboard disposed on the base assembly.
 6. Theportable computer of claim 5, wherein determining that the contact isunintentional comprises estimating a probability that the objectdetected on the surface of the touchpad is an intentional orunintentional contact based upon detecting whether a user's hand ispositioned over the keyboard using a sensor disposed between thekeyboard and the touchpad on the base assembly.
 7. The portable computerof claim 5, wherein determining that the contact is unintentionalcomprises estimating a probability that the object detected on thesurface of the touchpad is an intentional or unintentional contact basedupon detecting whether a user's hand is positioned over the keyboardusing a sensor disposed in the display assembly.
 8. The portablecomputer of claim 1, wherein the touchpad comprises a capacitive sensortouchpad.
 9. The portable computer of claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: in response to the processor determining that thecontact of the object with the surface is intentional: forgodeactivating the first predefined region; and accept the contact of theobject with the surface as an input command.
 10. The portable computerof claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: in responseto the processor determining that the contact of the object with thesurface is unintentional, reject the contact of the object with thesurface.
 11. The portable computer of claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: while the first predefined region is deactivated,accept one or more contacts detected on the second predefined region asone or more input commands.
 12. A touchpad comprising: a plurality ofpredefined regions, wherein the touchpad is configured to: detect anobject in contact with a surface at any position on the touchpad withina first predefined region of the plurality of predefined regions, and inresponse to a processor determining that the contact of the object withthe surface is unintentional, deactivate the first predefined regionindependently of a second predefined region of the plurality ofpredefined regions.
 13. The touchpad of claim 12, wherein determiningthat the contact is unintentional comprises estimating a probabilitythat the object detected on the surface of the touchpad is anintentional or unintentional contact based upon determining one or morecharacteristics of one or more contact patches, including the contact,on the touchpad.
 14. The touchpad of claim 13, wherein the one or morecharacteristics include contact patch location, trajectory, and size.15. The touchpad of claim 13, wherein estimating the probability thatthe object detected on the surface of the touchpad is an intentional orunintentional contact is further based upon determining a location of ahand using a hand location sensor that is separate from the touch pad.16. The touchpad of claim 12, wherein the touch pad and a keyboard aredisposed on a base assembly of a portable computer.
 17. The touchpad ofclaim 16, wherein determining that the contact is unintentionalcomprises estimating a probability that the object detected on thesurface of the touchpad is an intentional or unintentional contact basedupon detecting whether a user's hand is positioned over the keyboardusing a sensor disposed between the keyboard and the touchpad on thebase assembly.
 18. The touchpad of claim 16, wherein determining thatthe contact is unintentional comprises estimating a probability that theobject detected on the surface of the touchpad is an intentional orunintentional contact based upon detecting whether a user's hand ispositioned over the keyboard using a sensor disposed in a displayassembly of the portable computer.
 19. The touchpad of claim 12, whereinthe touchpad comprises a capacitive sensor touchpad.
 20. The touchpad ofclaim 12, wherein the touchpad is further configured to: in response tothe processor determining that the contact of the object with thesurface is intentional: forgo deactivating the first predefined region;and accept the contact of the object with the surface as an inputcommand.
 21. The touchpad of claim 12, wherein the touchpad is furtherconfigured to: in response to the processor determining that the contactof the object with the surface is unintentional, reject the contact ofthe object with the surface.
 22. The touchpad of claim 12, wherein thetouchpad is further configured to: while the first predefined region isdeactivated, accept one or more contacts detected on the secondpredefined region as one or more input commands.